Creatures of the Night – Nemain

This year I took the decision to push ahead with my sculpting ambitions. I made it my profession. Or half-profession, as I still do web development freelance to balance the books (read: eat food).

In between producing models for paying customers, I am exploring my own miniature range – Creatures of the Night. I set myself lofty goals. I work at them. They often change. It’s easy to get inspired (read: distracted) by new ideas.

The first step was simple – make 3 models of an undead nature. I’ve made more than 3 now, but only one of them has been Undead. That’s not to say I’ve abandoned the first plan. No, I have plenty of half-finished dead things. I just have to be careful with priorities and to ensure I am earning whilst indulging in my own worlds.

So, naturally, my first model was not Undead, but it was something I actually started before all of this. Meet Nemain. She’s a Fomor witch, one of a trio of Morrighu (hint: there will be 2 sister models) and matriarch of the Fomorians. The Fomorians, according to the Irish pseudo-history of Lebor Gabála Érenn, are chaotic sea-dwelling gods, described as having goat-like heads and often absent an eye or limb (or a whole host of missing bits!). Losing an eye was a much more stylistic choice then hopping around on one leg.

Nemain, as painted by Paul Batchelor.

She’s proven to be quite popular. Here’s another paint job, by Zero TwentyThree:

And my own, showing how easy it is to repose her limbs.

The Fomor are just one of the factions within my fledgling “Creatures of the Night” world. I am planning on 6 clans, with at least 5 models for each. As this is all time consuming, they are being done impulsively between paid work, but will round up into a plan as I get more done. Background and a rules system is also being developed to accompany the models. As hinted above, the world is based on the book of invasions (Lebor Gabála Érenn), so you can expect all sorts of gits from that folklore, be it cyclops, banshee or were-raven.

I am hoping my memory is good enough to make this the first of a series of posts following my efforts. Feel free to give me a slap if I forget!